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BainsBane

(53,016 posts)
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 01:56 AM Nov 2016

It's already a clusterfuck

Voters wanted change rather than someone competent. Now they get rank incompetence.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/firings-and-discord-put-trump-transition-team-in-a-state-of-disarray/ar-AAkk2HG?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

New York Times


WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition was in disarray on Tuesday, marked by firings, infighting and revelations that American allies were blindly dialing in to Trump Tower to try to reach the soon-to-be-leader of the free world. 
One week after Mr. Trump scored an upset victory that took him by surprise, his team was improvising the most basic traditions of assuming power. That included working without official State Department briefing materials in his first conversations with foreign leaders.

Two officials who had been handling national security for the transition, former Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan and Matthew Freedman, a lobbyist who consults with corporations and foreign governments, were fired. Both were part of what officials described as a purge orchestrated by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser.

The dismissals followed the abrupt firing on Friday of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who was replaced as chief of the transition by Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Mr. Kushner, a transition official said, was systematically dismissing people like Mr. Rogers and Mr. Freedman who had ties with Mr. Christie. As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Christie had sent Mr. Kushner’s father to jail.

Prominent American allies were in the meantime scrambling to figure out how and when to contact Mr. Trump. At times they have been patched through to him in his luxury office tower with little warning, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations. . . .

There were some reports within the transition of score-settling.
One member of the transition team said that at least one reason Mr. Rogers had fallen out of favor among Trump’s advisers was that, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he had overseen a report about the 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, which concluded that the Obama administration had not intentionally misled the public about the events there. That report echoed the findings of numerous other government investigations into the episode.
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It's already a clusterfuck (Original Post) BainsBane Nov 2016 OP
Dealing with the Trump administration will be like dealing with Comcast bhikkhu Nov 2016 #1
Oh, no BainsBane Nov 2016 #2
I heard there was a cabinet-level department still waiting to meet Trump's people. DemocraticWing Nov 2016 #3
They can't find people who will take jobs either BainsBane Nov 2016 #4
Defense, State, Transportation, Energy - none have even HEARD from the "team" hatrack Nov 2016 #19
I'm with Lawrencw O'Donnell on this one. napi21 Nov 2016 #5
It's coming out that the most important thing to Trump... Wounded Bear Nov 2016 #6
And that not only does he keep an enemies list, dixiegrrrrl Nov 2016 #9
This message was self-deleted by its author phylny Nov 2016 #14
Cluster Fuck! sheshe2 Nov 2016 #7
That sounds so much like a Bowie song! C Moon Nov 2016 #8
I do believe the GOP will come out of this further diminished. randome Nov 2016 #10
A den of jackals and jackasses. Please proceed. callous taoboy Nov 2016 #11
Agreed. randome Nov 2016 #12
He riffed his way to the WH and never thought he'd win BeyondGeography Nov 2016 #13
I enjoy the fact that he didn't want to go through the PDR alone. phylny Nov 2016 #15
And lingered 90 minutes with Obama BeyondGeography Nov 2016 #17
President Obama's face looks absolutely gray. phylny Nov 2016 #18
The son in law who's settling scores on behalf of his jailbird dad, and the general who loves Putin. Hekate Nov 2016 #22
I'm sure the news media will cover for Trump workinclasszero Nov 2016 #16
I did hear this on MSNBC earlier BainsBane Nov 2016 #20
Oh. My. God. This from Eliot Cohen (Bush Admin State Dept).... Hekate Nov 2016 #21
I saw that BainsBane Nov 2016 #23

bhikkhu

(10,713 posts)
1. Dealing with the Trump administration will be like dealing with Comcast
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 02:02 AM
Nov 2016

Just imagine Ingraham as press secretary...

DemocraticWing

(1,290 posts)
3. I heard there was a cabinet-level department still waiting to meet Trump's people.
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 02:09 AM
Nov 2016

A week after the election and some of the government not even transitioning yet? What's gonna happen on January 20?

I keep imagining that scene in wars when the capital falls but they keep trying to project normalcy. But nothing about this is normal. There is somebody going to take over parts of the government and I'm not sure anybody knows who right now.

BainsBane

(53,016 posts)
4. They can't find people who will take jobs either
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 02:11 AM
Nov 2016

That's toward the end of the article.

And Pense only signed the transition paperwork tonight.

hatrack

(59,578 posts)
19. Defense, State, Transportation, Energy - none have even HEARD from the "team"
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 09:11 AM
Nov 2016

Not like they're important or anything . . .

napi21

(45,806 posts)
5. I'm with Lawrencw O'Donnell on this one.
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 02:15 AM
Nov 2016

He said the longer it takes the Con Administration to get through the better it is for the American people because the professionals will stay in charge. I find it quite humorous that the infighting even after the election is over. I suspect his entire term will operate that way. If you disagree with ME, I'll get rid of you.

Wounded Bear

(58,605 posts)
6. It's coming out that the most important thing to Trump...
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 02:36 AM
Nov 2016

is personal loyalty, and fuck competence or qualifications.

The ultimate kitchen cabinet filled with fawing yes-men.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
9. And that not only does he keep an enemies list,
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 05:54 AM
Nov 2016

so does, apparently, his son in law and sons.
so lots of black and white thinking, and taking everything personally, massive egos.

As one of my sons said right after the election, ..." Caligua. With nukes".

Response to napi21 (Reply #5)

C Moon

(12,209 posts)
8. That sounds so much like a Bowie song!
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 03:14 AM
Nov 2016

Seeing that title and his photo, connected the two for me.
Sorry to go off topic. Had to share.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
10. I do believe the GOP will come out of this further diminished.
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 06:47 AM
Nov 2016

This election was not about an ascendancy to power. It was a fluke, just like Trump and his minions are: a gaggle of flukes.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

callous taoboy

(4,584 posts)
11. A den of jackals and jackasses. Please proceed.
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 06:51 AM
Nov 2016

I enjoyed watching the slow dissolution of shrub's presidency. I expect Drumpf's to be similar, though much faster, meaner, and I see the Republicans imploding in a most splendid way.

BeyondGeography

(39,351 posts)
13. He riffed his way to the WH and never thought he'd win
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 06:59 AM
Nov 2016

No policies, no unifying statements of principle, no previous experience in government. In addition to all the other problems.

phylny

(8,368 posts)
15. I enjoy the fact that he didn't want to go through the PDR alone.
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 07:50 AM
Nov 2016

Wanted to take two people, his son-in-law and a retired general, in with him.

I think he's at least smart enough to realize he's in over his head.

Hekate

(90,565 posts)
22. The son in law who's settling scores on behalf of his jailbird dad, and the general who loves Putin.
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 01:22 PM
Nov 2016

Gods help us all.

BainsBane

(53,016 posts)
20. I did hear this on MSNBC earlier
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 10:34 AM
Nov 2016

They tend to relay what the Times writes instead of doing their own reporting.

Hekate

(90,565 posts)
21. Oh. My. God. This from Eliot Cohen (Bush Admin State Dept)....
Wed Nov 16, 2016, 01:20 PM
Nov 2016
Eliot A. Cohen, a former State Department official who had criticized Mr. Trump during the campaign but said after his election that he would keep an open mind about advising him, said Tuesday on Twitter that he had changed his opinion. After speaking to the transition team, he wrote, he had “changed my recommendation: stay away. They’re angry, arrogant, screaming ‘you LOST!’ Will be ugly.”

Mr. Cohen, a conservative Republican who served under President George W. Bush, said Trump transition officials had excoriated him after he offered some names of people who might serve in the new administration, but only if someone they saw as credible led the department.

“They think of these jobs as lollipops,” Mr. Cohen said in an interview.


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